Local mother and volunteer Mary McElhaney recently was honored with the “Friend of Education of the Year” award from Grand County School District.

McElhaney, who served this past school year as vice president of the Red Rock Elementary School Parent Teacher Association, was nominated for the award by several teachers and staff members at Red Rock Elementary and Helen M. Knight Intermediate schools.

McElhaney was lauded for her efforts in helping teachers and students in many areas, including collecting cardboard boxes for the teachers to pack their supplies as they prepared for the upcoming transition into the new HMK Elementary School building, currently under construction.

“In the middle of all of the financial stuff the teachers had to worry about this year, they also had to get ready to move,” said McElhaney. “The least we could do is get boxes ready for them so they could pack.”

McElhaney was also quick to share credit with Red Rock PTA president Kathy Lacy. “A lot of the things we did this year were her ideas, too,” she said.

“We set a goal to help our teachers by alleviating their stress and keeping their morale up, any way we could think of,” said McElhaney.

McElhaney stacked broken-down cardboard boxes at her house until Christmastime, when there was little room for anything else inside the garage.

“We then started getting them out to the teachers so they could begin their packing,” she said.

A few of the other projects undertaken by McElhaney and other PTA members this past year included: placing apples on educators’ desks for Teacher Appreciation Day, regularly reading to children as classroom volunteers, recording books on tape, bringing snacks and treats for children, and donating materials and supplies for arts and crafts. They also arranged for each student to get a fragrance-scented recycled pencil to take home on Earth Day.

“The best way to help with your child’s education is to be involved,” McElhaney said.

Among other projects, McElhaney also enlisted the help of her husband Jeramey in building shelves for Shelley Cook’s second-grade classroom.

The McElhaneys are the parents of three daughters: Kahlan, 9, Toni, 8, and Mikayla, 6. All three girls attended Red Rock Elementary this past year.

Even though she had no children attending HMK, McElhaney also was involved in various activities at HMK this year past as well, including helping out at the school’s annual science fair.

“The HMK and Red Rock community councils started meeting together this year, since they will be merging into one school this fall,” McElhaney said. “Our teachers this year did an amazing job.”

In addition to all her volunteer hours, McElhaney also works as a licensed day-care provider, caring for around 10 children at her home.

“It was nice for them to know they could count on volunteers to help out,” she said.